Dangerous driver jailed over 'prolonged and deliberate' police chase through busy area of Sheffield

Lewis Helliwell’s driving was brought to the attention of police at around 6pm on November 2 last year when they saw him overtake cars stuck in stationary traffic on Station Road, Chapeltown, in his Ford Transit van.

Officers in the marked police car turned their blue lights and siren on and began pursuing Helliwell, aged 29, in his van as he sped off through Chapeltown, prosecuting barrister Katherine White told Sheffield Crown Court on April 6.

They saw him continue to overtake stationary vehicles in traffic, and reach speeds of 70 miles per hour, Ms White said.

She continued: "At one point a pedestrian can be seen in the middle of the road, along with a cyclist… at another point, he’s seen to mount the curb.”

The police chase, which lasted around seven minutes, came to an end when Helliwell stopped his vehicle of his own volition, the court heard.

Ms White said Helliwell was found in the driver’s side of the van, with another person in the passenger seat.

Officers noted that Helliwell ‘smelled of intoxicants,’ the court heard.

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A roadside breath test recorded that Helliwell had between 37 and 38 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath, which is above the legal limit of 35, but below the threshold of 40 and above that South Yorkshire Police choose to prosecute.

Ms White described how in police interview, Helliwell said that prior to the chase taking place he said he was ‘minding his own business when a masked man wielding a bat threatened him and tried to steal his van’.

He said this incident put him in a ‘state of panic,’ leading to his dangerous driving.

Helliwell, of Meadow Bank Road, Rotherham claimed he did not see or hear the police car that was pursuing him with its blue lights and siren on.

He agreed the pursuit had been ‘dangerous’ after being shown CCTV footage of the incident.

Helliwell pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving at an earlier hearing.

Richard Adams, defending, said Helliwell’s dangerous driving was initially borne out of panic due to the attempted ‘car jacking,’ but acknowledged to continue driving in such a manner was ‘inexpliable’.

"The defendant was very contrite, and apologetic [in police interview] and stands by that today,” added Mr Adams.

Mr Adams said Helliwell was taking the antidepressant, sertraline at the time of the incident which ‘left him out of it’.

Recorder Richard Wright QC described Helliwell’s offending as a ‘prolonged and quite deliberate course of dangerous driving’ that resulted in a number of ‘near-miss collisions’.

He told Helliwell it would have been ‘absolutely obvious that you were being pursued by a police car with its blue lights illuminated and its siren blaring’.

Recorder Wright sentenced Helliwell to 12 months in prison, and said this could not be suspended because his driving was ‘simply so poor’ and was carried out in a busy area of the city.

He said the ‘message must go out’ to members of the public that people who drive so poorly in public areas will be met with prison sentences.

Helliwell was also banned from driving for two years, six months.